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Coastal Community Resilience and Power in the United States: A Comparative Analysis of Adaptability in North Carolina and Louisiana

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Abstract

Community adaptations to increase resilience and reduce vulnerability depend on adaptability, which is constituted by how power shapes collective mobilization of differential capacities across scales and levels of governance systems. A multidimensional power framework (MPF) to track the role of power in adaptability is presented and applied in a qualitative, comparative case study of two historical fishing communities in the United States. The MPF conceptualizes power as differential capacities at the individual and group levels, structural at the policy level, and systemic, reflective of generalized norms, strategies, and technologies of political economic imperatives. The first case, Two Rivers, North Carolina represents an example of collective action failure resulting in transformation to a new resilience regime consisting of fundamentally altered community functions, structures, and identity. The second case, Delcambre, Louisiana represents collective action success; community adaptations resulted in continuity in change for fisher livelihoods. Success here is defined as the ability to maintain a semblance of structure, function, or identity of the original resilience regime without connotations of positive or negative desirability. The cases were similar in demographics, vulnerabilities, and differential capacities. Key differences existed in systemic political economic imperatives, structural power at the policy level, and the ways closure, the ability to enforce a common sense of place within the communities reflected systemic power. The utility of the MPF is mapping vulnerabilities and differential capacities against broader structures and systemic processes to inform effective mobilization for improved socio-ecological resilience and sustainability.

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Notes

  1. One of the three types of authority discussed by Weber (1978) to denote authority tied to clearly defined and codified parameters and limitations associated with roles and responsibilities, which exist separate from the personalities of humans carrying out the duties of office or employment.

  2. Following Bourdieu (1990), groups reflect classes of aggregated individuals with similar life chances—access to resources and opportunities that inform life circumstances.

  3. An unincorporated community is a populated place that is not within any incorporated municipality, but is within the jurisdiction of a county or other political subdivision.

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Acknowledgements

The research presented here is heavily indebted to the people of Delcambre and Two Rivers. I am grateful for their time and generosity in sharing their challenges and hopes and humbled by their trust in me to tell their stories. I also want to thank Dr Bram Noble, Editor-in-Chief of Environmental Management and the anonymous reviewers. I am extremely grateful for the reviewers’ thoughtfulness, time, and attention to providing insightful comments and suggestions, which have inspired improvement of this manuscript above and beyond what was possible through my work alone. I take full responsibility for any remaining errors in clarity, content, or organization.

Funding

Research for the North Carolina case was partially supported by a 2008 award from the Environmental Governance Working Group at Colorado State University. Research for the Louisiana case was partially supported by a 2014 Early Career award from the Rural Sociologically Society.

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  1. Department of Sociology and Rural Studies, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD, USA

    Candace K. May

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May, C.K. Coastal Community Resilience and Power in the United States: A Comparative Analysis of Adaptability in North Carolina and Louisiana. Environmental Management 68, 100–116 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-021-01482-x

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